Jack Klatt Announces New EP 'Edge of the End'

"Being from Minnesota, there is something about the West Texas landscape that resets my brain," says Minneapolis-based country-folk singer/songwriter Jack Klatt who today announces Edge of the End, a new EP due June 1 via Yep Roc Records, and shares "Any Way The Wind Is Blowin'."

Inspired by a period of self-reflection during major global events, Klatt retreated to Marfa, TX, to write the Edge of the End. With tales of ramblin' days as a young man to the more reflective ones of the pain and anger felt in his hometown after the murder of George Floyd and the feelings that came with the hope of playing music in front of a live audience again two years being homebound during the pandemic.

Of "Any Way The Wind Is Blowin'," Klatt says: "This is a feel-good song with a cosmic country vibe about my love affair with music. I've made a lot of strange choices in my life. I dropped out of school when I was young to travel the country and write songs. I got around by hitchhiking and riding trains, making what little money I had singing on street corners. I never knew where the rent was coming from, but it always showed up right on time. I have been reflecting on my ramblin' days during the pandemic, grappling with feeling landlocked like so many others. You can't control the way the wind blows; you just gotta roll with it sometimes...."

Recorded at Bombshelter Studios in Nashville, Edge of the End was produced by Grammy-nominated Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes); Klatt was joined in studio on this collection by musicians Dennis Crouch (upright bass), Billy Contreras (strings/fiddle), Jack Lawrence (bass), John James Tourville (pedal steel, electric guitar, dobro), Alex Hall (drums, organ, piano), and background vocals by Kyshona Armstrong, Maureen Murphy, Nickie Conley.

"Being from Minnesota, there is something about the West Texas landscape that resets my brain," offers Klatt. "I was in the Chihuahuan desert, the land of coyotes and border patrol, no lakes, or trees, just a wide-open harsh landscape filled with dust and brush, a blank canvas. Not only did it feel like our whole world was teetering on some apocalyptic precipice, I, too, felt like I was at the edge of the end, physically and emotionally. I made it all the way to Big Bend national park and purified myself in the waters of the Rio Grande. The end is only a new beginning, depending on how you look at it."

Of 2019's It Ain't The Same, No Depression noted "Roy Orbison would have loved the music of Jack Klatt," which pulls from a wide range of American music -- country, folk, early rock 'n roll, and R&B. Upon its release, the album garnered critical praise with Paste noting, "his unique sound defies genres," while Atwood Magazine coined him "an American poet of redemption."

Born and raised in the Twin Cities, he dropped out of college to see the world, busking his way from San Francisco to Spain before returning home with a new focus on songcraft and fingerstyle technique. Backed by a combo, he soon played across the Midwest, lighting up barrooms, saloons, clubs, and festival stages with his signature crooner approach to country folk.

Listen to the new single here:

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